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Tuesday, May 5, 2009

TweetWhile in Louisville two weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to witness a Holy Bull colt, Hull, romp in the Derby Trial Stakes (G3) and I'm excited that his connections have decided to give it a go in the Preakness Stakes (G1) a week from Saturday. While he's yet to try a route race, he has won his first three races at three different tracks (Fair Grounds, Turfway Park and Churchill). I was pretty impressed with the way he pulled away from some quality competition (Silver City, Santana Six) in the Derby Trial, so if he can get the distance he might be a factor in Baltimore. His Beyers aren't the most impressive (97/86/92), but we know that really doesn't mean that much (see Mine That Bird). He's an impressive looking colt and his daddy won some big races in his day, so maybe he'll be one to keep an eye on the tote board. His broodmare sire, Chimes Band, was more of a sprinter (won the King's Bishop).

On the other hand, it looks like an quick early pace may be less likely, now that Withers (G3) winner Mr. Fantasy will pass on the Preakness and point to the Met Mile on May 25th.

Love the caption on this week's SI Cover (!!!) of Mine That Bird of "Derby Long-Shot Winner Energizes Horse Racing." If he can repeat, maybe he is the hero we so desparately need? The fact that he's a gelding means he could be around for awhile should he continue to move forward. Still tons of chatter around my office, three days post Derby...maybe that caption was right? Fingers crossed.

I was playing a little Belmont on Sunday (sloppy track - had plenty of practice on the weekend) and was having a decent day (recouping the debacle that was the 2009 KD) when I happened across a filly named Wittenberg Miss in the 7th, a first time starter. Sharp works, sired by Smart Strike (Mine That Bird's broodmare sire) and Fortunate Prospect as the broodmare sire (Musket Man's broodmare sire), so I got excited and started keying around her. She led for a while but tired for third in the stretch behind a Stephen Got Even filly. This one went into the watch list. To boot, we had just met Fortunate Prospect (see inset) last week at Old Friends and he was definitely one of our favorite stallions we visited. He had a good weekend with Musket Man finishing third, I'm sure they were very excited about that in Georgetown on Saturday.

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About Me

Gene Kershner - EquiSpace

A bean counter by trade, writing about horse racing is my passion. Entered the blogosphere in April 2008 and in October 2010 became the racing correspondent for The Buffalo News. In 2012, elected into the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Association (NTWAB).